A British beauty therapist jailed after scarring a woman’s face at a New Year’s party has had her sentence reduced by the Court of Appeal.

Natalie Simpson, 25, was convicted earlier this year of unlawfully wounding 31-year-old Alexandra Wheatley after pleading guilty in the Supreme Court.

The court had heard that both Simpson and Ms Wheatley were celebrating the new year at a “Champagne Party” at the lower level of Pier Six in the early hours of January 1 when Ms Wheatley began to talk to Simpson’s boyfriend.

Simpson confronted the victim and threw a drink in her face, and Ms Wheatley allegedly threw a punch towards Simpson.

It was unclear how much contact was made, but Simpson reacted by throwing her champagne glass at Ms Wheatley, striking her in the face. The impact caused deep lacerations to Ms Wheatley’s face and both lips. The injuries required multiple stitches and left scarring on Ms Wheatley’s face and numbness in her lower lip.

The court heard that immediately after the incident a bystander questioned Simpson about the attack, and she responded: “I didn’t mean to do it, I didn’t mean to do it. I’m going to go to prison.”

Simpson left the party and travelled to New York later that day on a pre-planned trip, however she contacted police when she returned to the Island to admit the attack. During that interview, she told officers she had ten glasses of champagne and five shots on the evening of the incident.

Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field called the attack “a vicious, unprovoked attack with a potentially lethal weapon”, while defence lawyer Marc Daniels said Simpson was a genuinely good person who made an error of judgment due to alcohol and emotion.

Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons sentenced Simpson to two years behind bars in May, with time already served taken into account. She explained her decision by stating that she used a four-year sentence as a starting point, reducing it due to the defendant’s clean record and early guilty plea. Simpson subsequently launched an appeal against that sentence.

The sentence also sparked an online petition which, despite a mixed reaction from the public, garnered more than 700 signatures.

During a November 14 hearing regarding the sentence, the Court of Appeal ruled that Simpson’s sentence should be reduced, stating that they were not convinced that Ms Justice Simmons gave due weight to the fact that Simpson did not intend to cause serious injury by throwing the glass.

In the court’s written reasons for their decision, they wrote: “Offences of unlawful wounding vary in gravity greatly according to their particular circumstances. The present case was not a ‘glassing’ case in the ordinary sense of the expression where the defendant breaks a glass and then uses the broken glass to injure the victim, often in the face, where the offence is likely to involve an intent to cause really serious injury.

“In the present case the glass was thrown at Ms Wheatley, hit her in the face and regrettably caused serious injuries. Any provocation, as the judge pointed out, did not justify the appellant’s conduct, which seems to us to have been caused by the greatly excessive amount she had to drink.

“In our judgement, the judge was in error in saying this case was in the highest category on the facts and that a sentence of four years imprisonment was warranted before taking into account mitigating factors. Absent an intent to cause really serious injury, this was a bad case but not one that warranted a sentence of four years imprisonment after a trial.”

The Court of Appeal ruled that the appropriate starting point for Simpson’s sentence should have been in the region of 2½ years. With a discount of 30 per cent due to her guilty plea, her remorse and her previous good character, they said an appropriate sentence was 16 months.

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